Grappling With Valentine's Day

Today is that greeting card holiday above all others, the day celebrated the world over by people doing things that embarrass the people they love, giving gifts likely to make their loved ones fat, dealing with desperate former lovers, or alienating anyone not currently in a loving relationship.

You could just call it Valentine's Day, like most people do.

While the commercialized holiday is a modern invention, very little is known about the historical figure of Saint Valentine. The legend is that he was a priest in Rome about 270 A.D., during a time when the Catholic church was under siege from the Roman government. Valentine supposedly helped marry couples in secret, in direct violation of the law, in order to keep alive the ancient tradition of marriage. For violating that law - among other reasons - Valentine was killed.

In general, our staff tends to be fans of marriage, and of love and tradition. Sadly, when two traditions collide, the result that often occurs is somewhat like that which Saint Valentine experienced: the more coarse and ugly tradition tends to whack the more honorable and respected one.

Something similar appears to have happened this week with the Olympics, to a tradition that goes back almost as far as marriage.

In case you missed it, on Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee - in an action filled with the kind of ugly politics normally reserved for "reality TV" -  voted to drop wrestling from the official roster of Olympic sports. It's a move that seems to defy both logic and the Games' own spirit of ancient challenges being reborn. Wrestling, after all, has been part of the Olympics since its beginnings in ancient Greece - and we don't mean the more recent restart led by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896. Try 708 BCE.

While the official reason for dropping wrestling from the Olympics schedule appears to be that there is no longer enough interest, and that TV revenues from wrestling aren't what the IOC wants, those claims belie the facts on the mat.

Of all the sports up for potential elimination, none of them cost as much or appeal to as few people as modern pentathlon - the sport the IOC kept, when they dumped wrestling. Modern pentathlon is an event made up of pistol shooting, show jumping (an equestrian sport), a cross-country run, a freestyle swim, and fencing.

In short, it's a sport for rich people, who appear to have had both the opportunity and the lack of ethics to grease the palms of IOC members enough to keep their sport in the Games.

For now, like a jilted lover, wrestling supporters are going back to the IOC, in an attempt to get wrestling reinstated to the Olympics. Admittedly, they're facing an uphill climb.

Frankly, we're not so sure this isn't a great opportunity for wrestling as a sport to do what proud single men and women the world over can also do today: Change and refine themselves into the most irresistible new thing on the block. Change the rules of the game. Make it sexier. Get those TV contracts. Make the IOC beg to have wrestling back.

Then, when the Committee comes back begging? Ignore them and move on.

After all - if you know what you're truly worth, who needs some idiot begging you to come back? Be proud. Stand tall. And like U.S. Olympic Champion Rulon Gardner, leave it all on the mat.

The State Of The Union: Work, In Progress

Last night's State of the Union address was the kind of incredibly ambitious speech that few Presidents give to begin their second term. President Obama spoke in the tones of a man who knew he has the upper hand on virtually every major topic, from jobs and the economy, to immigration, gun safety, and climate change. From both the current polling, and the obvious fractures between the ridiculous GOP and "tea party" responses, the President's confidence was clearly justified.

The President's speech was, as expected, quite assertive. It was also exactly one hour - neither too long or too short.

It was clear from the beginning that President Obama's address this year would focus a great deal on work, jobs, and the middle class. In addition to mentioning jobs at the outset, he spoke the word "jobs" 45 times during the speech, turning the attention to jobs in virtually every subject.

The political right has long wailed about the deficit, even over the last few years as Americans have overwhelmingly been more concerned about jobs. President Obama knocked down that false meme tonight - hopefully for the last time - when he spoke about the budget, pointedly noting that under his watch, we've already cut the federal deficit by more than $2.5 trillion, through budget cuts as well as tax increases on the wealthiest. He also nailed the biggest problems in our current tax code, noting that common sense demands closing unneeded loopholes before we harm the poorest Americans.

The President also made the logical connection that, to help create more jobs in America, we must invest in America again, on items from infrastructure and clean energy, to how we finance our housing sector, to our education system. He hammered hard the fact that, from preschool to college, America needs to fix not just what and how we teach, but how we fund that education. The President also solidly addressed comprehensive immigration reform, and addressed the Senate's passage of the Violence Against Women Act, and the need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Then he did something unexpected.

The President called for a raise in the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour. Then President Obama pointedly noted that both he and he former Republican opponent Mitt Romney agreed: America's minimum wage should also be tied to the cost of living, to make it a real, true, living minimum wage.

The President then turned to the issue of war, confirming that "over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan," and that, by the end of 2014, the war there will be done. He further noted that Al-Qaeda is now a shadow of its former self, and that America also has other challenges. From trade with Europe, to diplomacy with Iran, to protecting us from cyberwarfare, to being more transparent about how we conduct our wars, the President made it clear through all of these challenges that our defenses would remain strong, for all Americans - even gay Americans - while we cut waste.

Finally, the President addressed one of the biggest issues - gun safety - and he made it clear to gun-happy extremists, like the NRA, that this issue is not going to fade away. They may not like all the gun safety proposals that will be presented in Congress - but for all those affected by gun violence, EVERY legitimate gun safety proposal deserves a vote.

There was a stark contrast. Some Republicans embarrassed themselves by not clapping for voting rights, not standing for veterans, and not even applauding the 102-year-old Florida woman who waited 3 hours and made two trips to cast her ballot last fall. On the other hand, President Obama's address this year was proudly, unabashedly progressive.

This could be seen and heard most clearly, near the end of his address, when he said, "We were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, and uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government."

That is what it truly means to choose progress - and, to our mind, what it means to be American citizens, at our best.

Responsibility & Abdication: The State Of The Union

Tonight, for the fifth time, President Obama will be giving his annual address on the state of our nation. Admittedly, like most of us in the political media, our staff gets pretty excited about this constitutionally mandated ritual.

Several media sources have already leaked information fed to them through various unnamed White House sources, outlining the topics President Obama will likely hit hardest, including infrastructure, energy, education, and nuclear proliferation.

In short, President Obama is going to be assertive, the proper adjective to describe a leader who is sick and tired of his governing partners abdicating their responsibilities, and isn't going to wait for them any longer.

While Republicans in Congress and many Republican voters have abdicated their duties to the President and to their fellow Americans, they haven't even had the courage or decency to formally announce their abdication, as Pope Benedict did on Monday when he resigned the Papacy.

It's quite possible some Republicans don't even realize they've abandoned their proper role on managing resources like our climate, or maintaining our national infrastructure. After all, the Republican Party can't even agree on a single rebuttal to President Obama's address, as both the wounded Republican Party, and the insane "tea party" wing of the GOP will each deliver their own twisted word salad after the President speaks.

The problem for those on the political right isn't just that they can't get along with each other.

Republicans are outwardly admitting that policies they've generated, and actively voted for - like the sequester - are "going to hurt a lot of people" as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor admitted on Sunday. Yet they want to push ahead, needlessly harming their fellow Americans, instead of fixing the real problems.

Congressional Democrats, while more responsible than their Republican colleagues, have also allowed those same GOP members to destroy the reputation of the United States as a beacon of democracy, by blocking Presidential nominations, and indeed attempting to block virtually any action by this President.

It should be obvious that Republicans have failed at leadership, failed at building a cohesive group, and failed at being a responsible opposition party - but it doesn't have to be that way.

As we hope President Obama will note tonight, our nation is strong and healthy, and continuing to get better under his leadership - though we are not as strong or as healthy as we could or should be.

If every American would work together, instead of some abdicating their responsibilities, we are certain our nation can be even better. a feeling we are certain is shared by our President.